Wizards of Waverly Place: Corrections
by Thor2000
Summary: The last WOWP story I'll ever do - Alex faces losing her magic permanently for coming close to revealing magic too many times to the world in the final episode. I'm tired of my WOWP stories not getting hits.
1. Chapter 1

Alex was in a panic and she didn't know what to do. She had screwed up in the past, and she was going to screw up again. She had misbehaved in the past, and had been punished for it. She used magic to be selfish and lazy, and she always paid the price. If she didn't think of something to change her brother back before her parents got home, she'd lose her wand and privileges again.

"Alex…" Her best friend was holding an eight-month-old infant wrapped in her brother's clothes. "You got to change him back! I think Justin needs changing!!!"

"I'm looking! I'm looking!" Alex rushed and searched through her father's spell book for a counter-spell. Her older brother was screaming and crying in infant form as Harper jostled him in her arms. Alex needed a good spell and she thought she had a good one.

"Here's one…" Alex scanned the page and waved her wand. "A infant you are, a man you shall be, become an adult as I count to three, one, two, three!" All she got was a puff of smoke from her wand. It didn't work against a person with a spell already on them. Her big brother was still tiny, bawling and screaming his head off in Harper's arms. Once in love with the tall and athletic intellectual, Harper jostled her would-be boyfriend from her one arm to the other and gave a look to Alex of sheer annoyance. It was always one stupid thing after another with her.

"What now?"

"This is what we're doing." Alex bent down under the kitchen counter and pulled out the big turkey pan, taking her brand new baby brother from her best friend and laying him in the pan. "We're leaving him on a doorstep across town and running away!!!"

"Alex!!!"

"It's our only solution!!!" They heard the door unlatching and opening as her parents came home. This was just great! Caught with the evidence! There was no escaping punishment now! Her mother hard the crying baby and looked over to the scene. Puzzled and confused, her father heard the screams and started wondering what was going on.

"Alex…" Theresa Russo dropped her purse and marched over. "Where'd the baby come from?"

"We're, um, babysitting…" Alex claimed as Harper became quiet and watched what occurred next.

"That's my good stewing pot." Jerry Russo came over as his wife took the baby out of the pot and grinned cooing at him. The little guy drew quiet as he looked at her. Theresa loved babies, and this one was so cute. Alex and Harper started backing away to flee in silence. Jerry put his pot away as Theresa calmed the baby.

"Did you leave Justin to watch the shop alone?" Jerry asked them.

"Um, uh…" Alex was hedging and stuttering to think. "No, we… uh, closed early…"

"This is just great!" Harper mumbled. "I can't go home anymore because I live here now!!!" She referred to her parents having moved away and letting her finish the school year with Alex and her family. She spent so much time with them; it practically was her second home.

"Oh, Jerry, look…." Theresa was making the baby giggle and coo at her. "He's making that same face Justin used to do when he was…" She and Jerry looked closer and realized the baby looked very familiar. In fact, he looked like… No, it couldn't be. Jerry took a picture of young Justin off the wall and compared it to the baby. The similarity was incredible. They looked to Alex and Harper. Alex looked annoyed; Harper was terrified. Teresa looked back to the baby in her arms.

"Alex, is that baby… Justin?" He asked his rotten daughter. Theresa looked upset.

"Justin?" Alex scoffed at that thought. "Course not! Whatever gives you that idea?!" She then realized Harper was about to snap and clamped her hand over her mouth.

"Uh-huh…" Jerry was highly suspicious. He reached high up above the kitchen sink and took a jar of herbs with anathema properties. Honey root and cinnamon were an anathema which when mixed together as powder acted as a void against all unintentional spells, especially those by inexperienced witches and wizards. Alex's jaw dropped nervously as he powdered the baby's forehead curiously. Almost immediately, the baby exploded to full size and Theresa was holding and dropping her nineteen-year-old son. Alex slapped her hand to her head in disgusted disbelief. Her mother was shocked. Her father was furious.

"Alex!!!!!!!"

Justin meanwhile staggered and fought to regain his full faculties. His brain was re-uploading years of memories, facts and figures. Tall, nineteen-years-old and mature once more, his mother and Harper rushed to help him to the sofa. He barely knew where or who he was, yet, gradually it was all coming back to him. He had been running the shop and Harper and Alex were waiting on tables; at least, Harper was. Alex was sitting and talking on her phone. He ordered her to work, she told him to back off and the next thing he knew he was holding on to Harper four times bigger than him and trying to nurse from her!

"Justin, honey, are you okay?" Theresa looked into her son's bewildered face.

"Justin, you were so cute as a baby." Harper was holding his hand. "I hope our future babies look just like you!" She was still convinced he was her future life mate.

"Alex," Jerry confronted his daughter. "How could you? Why would you do this?"

"It was an accident!!!" She screamed gesturing to her brother. "I told Justin he was being a big baby and next thing I knew he was a little baby… literally!!!" She gasped and rolled her eyes realizing she had a punishment coming. "How long?"

"Two weeks! No wand!" Jerry asked for it.

"Fine…" Alex pulled it out of her belt and handed it over to him.

"Justin, honey," Theresa was still trying to rouse his son from his mystical predicament. "Please talk to me. Are you okay?"

"Justin make boom-boom in his pants!" He declared as Harper bounced herself away from him and to the end of the sofa.


	2. Chapter 2

2

An hour later, Justin was walking and reading again as his mind reabsorbed a lifetime of memories. By dinnertime, he had learned to stop saying "mommy" and "daddy" and was reading at a high school level again. During a brief thirty minutes, he and his brother Max were both fifteen years old and thought each other were cool enough to hang out together, but then Justin recalled girls and he was back to normal and hating his sister. In all, it was an interesting display of science and magic and how well the human mind tolerated being affected by magic. His experience as a baby was a dim memory, like a dream he barely recalled, but for some reason, he wanted Harper to read him a bedtime story.

"Justin, are you okay now?" Theresa sat next to him at the dinner table. Harper sat on his other side with Alex to her left and Jerry directly across and next to Max. Dinner consisted of Mexican meatloaf with rice.

"Yeah, I guess so…" Justin rolled his eyes disgustedly at Alex. "I feel so humiliated."

"Can I be a baby next?" Max asked.

"No!!!" Jerry struck down that query.

"Justin, I'm sorry." Alex apologized for the seventh time. "It was an accident."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…"

"Justin, she's trying…" Theresa gave her firstborn more eggplant. "Would like some more spinach?"

"I don't like spinach. I hate it! I hate it! I hate it! I hate it!" He screamed then pouted in his seat. Theresa dropped her mouth open at that display and looked to Jerry. Alex was smirking as she enjoyed it.

"It'll wear off…" Jerry obviously understood the mystical ramifications of being turned to an infant and the time it took for the human mind to recover from an undeveloped state. He spooned some meatloaf to his lips and turned to ask Max something then heard a sound upstairs. Theresa heard it too. Someone or something was moving around upstairs. It went from Alex's room to Justin's, opening and closing doors.

"Alex, what do you have upstairs?" Jerry turned to Alex.

"Why do you just assume its me?" She looked to Harper both afraid and bewildered. Their intruder went from Justin's room, stepped on the creaking board on the upstairs landing and opened the door to Max's room, accompanied by the sound of a crash, debris being moved around and sounds of mumbling.

"Justin…" Jerry turned to his eldest son. "What sort of robot or android thing did you build up there?"

"I don't know, I can't remember…" Justin reacted. "I mean, maybe I could if someone…" He looked to Alex. "Hadn't turned me into a baby!!!"

"Get over it, all ready!"

"It's in my room!!!" Max was panicking. "It's in my room!!!"

"Max, calm down…" Jerry took charge, but Justin pulled out his wand to protect the family. The noises continued with the soda cans rolling out into the hall from Max's messy room. The sounds came over to the metal staircase down to the dining area and started coming down. First they saw the thin gawky legs in dark green slacks and then the violet overcoat and dark vest of their intruder. He didn't seem to be a burglar. He wasn't stealing anything, nor did he look to be much of a threat. He was short on size with a thin hairline and wearing thin glasses just slightly smaller than his head. He was studying objects he picked up, writing notes in his journal and noticing everything around him but the inhabitants of the place he was invading.

"Excuse me…" Jerry wiped his mouth with his napkin and rose to investigate. "Can I help you?"

"I'm okay, but thank you very much." Their intruder looked up smiling, spoke with a slight French accent and turned up the toaster on the counter, analyzing it and putting it down before writing some notes. He picked up Theresa's purse from the sofa and looked at its contents unaware of the human laws of propriety he was breaking.

"No, I mean… what are you doing here?"

"I'm taking notes."

"Excuse me!" Theresa yanked back her purse. "But who are you and what are you doing in our home?"

"Oh," Their intruder looked up. "I'm Jerold Flick, comptroller to the Wizard's Council, detached. I'm making a reading of the premises." He looked confusingly upon the remote to the TV. "Don't worry about me. Just do whatever you're doing."

"Yes, well…" Jerry looked to his confused wife and worried kids. "I'm a little perturbed when a stranger I don't know comes into my home uninvited and starts poking around."

"Okay," Flick rarely had to describe his job due to how rare he had to appear, but it did happen. "As you know, the very first wizards were granted their powers from the gods around 4000 BC when civilization began. After three hundred years, there were enough magicians hiding in society that it became necessary to develop rules of conduct that all wizards had to follow. Hence was born the first Wizard's Council from the eldest most experienced wizards, witches and sorcerers. After the first witch hunts began, we had to conceal the existence of magic and the role of comptroller was developed to penalize any witch or magician who risked revealing magic to the world to protect the innocent of being witches or wizards." Flick walked by the shelf of books counting them and recording the number in his notes. "Now, technically, muggles…."

"Muggles?" Harper reacted.

"British word…" Justin had learned it at Hogwarts. "It's used for people without magical powers."

"…Tend to develop theories for displays of magic." Flick continued. "They think the Loch Ness Monster is driftwood, they blame ghosts on hallucinations, lycanthropy and vampirism as medical diseases… but most wizards believe magic should continue to be kept secret. Apparently, five out of seven people are fully capable of handling magic as real…" He walked past Harper, pointing at her with his pencil. "But because of the last selfish two percent, we must keep magic secret even though all Homo sapiens are capable of magic in all levels, such as psychics, mediums and clairvoyants. That's where I come in… to depower or dispose of those among us dangerously close of revealing magic to the world." He stood before Alex extremely annoyed and anxious. She backed from him out of fear.

"Alex?" Jerry reacted as she rushed into his arms.

"Well, I don't mean Justin!"

Justin crossed his arms proudly and began smiling a bit cocky.

"Daddy?" Alex clung in fear to her father. Flick slapped his book shut and placed it with a pocket in his long overcoat then pulling out a small device that resembled a small cell phone looking device with letters and numbers on it.

"Look, Mister Flack…" Jerry pulled Alex close.

"Flick, Jerold Flick…" He started punching figures and numbers in his device. "Let's see here… Ah, here we go, Maximillian Kelbo Russo, eleven strikes…" He typed out another name. "Justin Herschel Russo… seven strikes…" He looked to the young man. Justin just smirked and looked away nervously. "Alexandria Esmerelda Russo… one hundred and eighty seven strikes…" He shook his head while clicking his tongue disapprovingly. "Every wizard is only allowed twenty-five strikes during his training. She has well used her chances up. I must contend with her. These are the rules by our ancestors." He replaced his device and pulled out his wand next.

"Daddy…" Alex hid behind her father. Justin and Harper exchanged looks. Max watched and ate popcorn as if he were watching a movie.

"Jerry…" Theresa stood by helpless.

"Wait!!!" Jerry stopped Flick. "Look, my kids haven't even finished their training. Alex might not even win the right to keep her powers."

"Jerry," Flick meant business. "You are one of the few magic families who still follow that ritual. The longer Alex keeps her powers the greater the threat she becomes. We can't take that chance!"

"I'll take this to the Wizard's Council!" Jerry argued.

"Won't work." Flick looked up. "You see, I'm detached service. The Wizard's Council has no say on what I decree. That way, they don't get deluged with letters or requests and I can operate unhindered by personal restraints."

"How'd you get your job?" Justin asked.

"My predecessor was appointed by the original, original, original Wizard's Council." Flick stated. "Each comptroller hires his own replacement. You know, you would do a great job given your record. Interested?" He gave Justin his card.

"Really?"

"Justin!!!" Alex screeched.

"No more stalling…" Flick used his wand to slide Jerry out of the way and then Theresa. Justin tried to move, but he and Harper were glued to the floor. Max was too busy eating popcorn as Flick raised his bright red mahogany wand to Alex. Her feet were stuck to the floor. She couldn't lift them at all! Tears were streaming down her eyes. She couldn't move! Her parents fought to move their feet adhered to the floor. They were powerless to help.

"Alex!!!" Justin tossed her his wand, but Flick knocked it out of the air as it rolled to Theresa. He was not the first to try that.

"Now, Miss Russo…" Flick was pointing his wand at her. "Give up your magic or…"

"I'll take the other one…"

"Erased from existence, really???" Flick reared back confused. "No one ever picks that one, but if that's what you want…"

"Wait!!!" Jerry screamed hysterically. His wife, daughter and Harper were crying tearfully. Justin was fighting to free himself then paused to watch.

"Look!!!" His hands were shaking. His face contorted in fear of losing his daughter. "There must be another solution!!!"

"Of course there's always another solution…" Flick lowered his wand. "I'm not that cold-hearted." He strolled over to Jerry and looked him over a bit distracted. "You see, what I've noticed about Alex is her personality flaws. She's selfish, lazy, dishonest, unscrupulous, vicious…"

"Criminal, ignorant, ruthless, egotistical, vain…" Justin added.

"Stuck-up, heartless, mean, nasty…" Max added even more.

"Stop helping!!!" Alex shrieked.

"But under it all…" Flick continued. "She seems to have a heart. She cares. She has the eye of an artist… Sometimes, I fault the parents for having horrible off-spring, but for some reason, Alex ignored her moral center. Now, if she were willing to have her personality corrected…"

"Corrected?" Theresa had her son's wand from the floor. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if we reached out for a young lady from the past of pure heart beyond this level of existence…" Flick waved his wand as he explained.

"You mean," Jerry stumbled a bit with his feet stuck to the floor. "What? Possession?"

"Oh god…" Alex fretted and covered her face in her hands. "Not again." She recalled sharing her body for a week with an earthbound spirit and briefly being the reincarnation of a former goddess.

"Not possession…" Flick answered. "A psychic transplant, replace the missing parts of her soul from the soul of another more pure of heart. Alex would finally be whole, and she could… keep her powers."

"Alex, honey…" Theresa looked to her little girl.

"Would it hurt?" Alex asked.

"No…" Flick turned round quickly and blasted her from existence. There was a long strike of thunder and Alex was no more. Teresa screamed, and Jerry grabbed his chest. Able to move again, they rushed to where Alex was. Harper gasped and fainted into Justin's arms, but he just reacted in disbelief. He wanted Alex gone, but not like this!!!

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got an appointment in Amityville." Flick secured his wand and checked his pocket watch.

"You monster!!!" Jerry stood angry and took a swat at flick who dodged it.

"You tried to hit me!!!"

"You erased my daughter out of existence!!!" He grabbed Flick by the coat.

"No, I didn't." Flick popped off Jerry's hands of his person. "You still remember her, don't you? She's just been sent to the astral plane for some very needed transcendentalism." He turned round to the door opening for him. "She's in a state of forced meditation. She'll be home in a few hours… a day at the most…"

"Alex…" Theresa was sitting on the floor with tear-filled eyes reaching to wear her daughter once was. She looked back to Flick leaving the loft.

"My good lady…" Flick raised a violet top hat with a red band to his head and tapped it in place. The door to the loft opened by itself for him. "When your daughter returns, she'll finally be the model daughter you always wanted… Hopefully, a much better than she was before." The door closed under its own power and he was soon just a memory, leaving behind a family wracked in fear and uncertainty.


	3. Chapter 3

3

Jerry did not rest that night and neither did Theresa. They waited out the night well to after midnight expecting Alex to either come home or to just appear, but the following morning as Justin came down to breakfast, he noticed the dining table had never been cleared, the downstairs lights were still on and his parents asleep on the sofa. Upon wakening, they rushed to Alex's room to find her, but she was not in her room, although Jerry accidentally saw a very brief view of Harper getting dressed.

"Sorry, Harper…" He closed the door again embarrassed. The anxiety of last night was not going away that fast. Theresa cleaned up from last night's dinner and sent Max, Justin and Harper to school without Alex. Hopefully, hopefully, Alex would be coming in behind them. After three bowls of cold cereal, they three of them were off to school. Upon arrival, Max reverted to himself and rushed to meet his friends. Harper meanwhile followed Justin up the exterior stairway to the second floor.

"Justin, Alex never came home last night." Harper revealed. "And her bed was not slept in."

"I know…" In the Senior Hall, Justin went straight for his locker. "Dad left to get some answers from the Wizard's Council."

"Oh," Harper had noticed he was not at breakfast. "How long do you think it will take to get Alex back?"

"A while…" Justin took his book for history class. "They gave him a number. He's number five million, sixty–six thousand, three hundred and seventy-three in line."

"Wow…" Harper made a face. "So he'll be home by…"

"Christmas 2058…"

"I can't believe the magic world is so complicated." Harper had never been so concerned.

"Well, it's not a world per say, it's more a secret community like the Masons or the Shriners, but we do have access to other worlds…" Justin had his textbook for first period history. "But, yeah, controlling real magic comes with a lot of red tape." He noticed Phoebe Daniels eyeing him very interestedly and gave her an eyeshot back. She was built like Lindsay Lohan with a lot of long red hair and dark highlights. Harper looked over and noticed her then swatted Justin as if they were already an item, but Justin had seen that well-shaped white sweater and Phoebe's flowing black skirt and was lost in his head with her on a shady beach. The teen beauty pulled a lock of hair past her ear and bounced down stairs heading for gym class. Along the way, she grinned at Mike Reynolds as well for being cute and flirted with Kevin Samms. Along the way, she paused briefly at Ashley Song's locker for some homemade cake. Mr. Laritate, the principal was coming and they had to hide the food in the locker. Separating at the sight of him, Phoebe adjusted her sweater and came round the front benches of the entry hall, dodging students filing into the school. In her way, Phoebe looked up and noticed someone she knew.

"Hey, Alex…" She shined a bit. "Ready to fail another biology test."

"Not if I can help it." Alex Russo lit up with a smile, present, on time and at peace with the world, her dark hair bobbing at her shoulders and her purse dangling from her shoulder. She was clad in a form-fitting white top with an extended skirt and dark belt with violet tights and white shoes. She felt great. Her memories told her she had just had breakfast at home of scrambled eggs and fried potatoes. She had ridden the bus with her best friend Harper, but for some reason, Harper was not around as she opened her first floor locker. She looked around confused, took out her necessary schoolbooks and locked up her purse ready to seize the day. She casually noticed her reflection in her locker door mirror, pulled down her unnecessary decorations and tossed them in the janitor's bin as he passed. She took out everything she needed for first period algebra, her textbook, her workbook and folders.

"Miss Russo…" Mr. Laritate noticed her. "My god, is it already noon?"

"No sir…" Alex looked up with her soft brown eyes. "I just thought it was time I got here on time. After all, if I don't graduate, I'll have to repeat and I really don't want to still be here as my friends graduate."

"Really…" He looked at her with one eyebrow higher than the other. "Okay, who are you and where's the real Alex Russo?"

"That's really funny, sir…" She was charming and pleasantly demure with her response. "By the way, did you see Harper anywhere? I thought she was behind me on the bus."

"I believe I saw Miss Finkle upstairs with your brother."

"You did?" Alex reacted confused. "That's weird… I thought she was right behind me." She looked to Mr. Laritate again. "Thank you, sir…" Alex turned back to her locker and swung it shut. Something was very weird here. She could have sworn Harper was with her on the bus, but she didn't recall getting up and having breakfast either. In fact, she was feeling a bit off. What did she do last night? She came home, had dinner, did her homework before the TV and helped her father close the shop. It was just another normal night, but then… why did she feel like she had lost something? Her wand? It was in the spine of her spiral notebook. Her bus pass? It was used as a bookmark in her textbook. In fact, the world seemed to have changed somehow for her.

In biology class, Harper looked at Alex's empty seat as Pete Vasquez and Destiny Farrell rushed in ahead of the warning bell. She was concerned and distracted, worried and alone. For the first time, she felt alone and by herself in the world. Without Alex, she'd possibly start bonding more and more with Justin. A deep breath, she looked around once and settled in her school desk. Mrs. Odom checked her watch to watch for the bell as a few more students straggled into the room.

"Harper…" Cindy Wismiller tapped Harper on her right shoulder. The cute Asian cheerleader leaned toward her. "Is Alex skipping again?"

"Uh, no, she's actually…" Harper heard a thud of books dropped behind her just before the tardy bell and whirled round to Alex sliding into her seat. She was here! She was alive!! Her heart started pumping, her face and eyes lit up with excitement and she reached over to welcome her back to the real world!

"Alex! You're back!!!" She stood up screaming. The whole room looked toward them and Alex reacted embarrassed. The source of the outburst, Harper chuckled and sank back in her seat. Her best friend was back! She was back!!

"Alex…" Harper lowered her voice in class. "I was so scared! I thought…"

"Harper…" Alex looked around covertly and borrowed a pencil from Bred Renfrough, one of the class intellectuals across from her. "What happened to you on the bus? I looked back and you wasn't there!"

"The bus?" Harper reacted bewildered. "Alex, you wasn't on the bus this morning."

"Yes I was…" Alex was present as Mrs. Odom passed out worksheets. "We sat over the wheel behind Lisa Mitchell and Roxanne Rodriguez… I came inside and you wasn't there."

"Alex…" Harper looked back at her. "Don't you recall last night? You were…"

"Ladies…" Mrs. Odom stood over them. "Is there something you want to share with the class?"

"No, Mrs. Odom…" The girls chorused.

"Good…" Their teacher turned to write on the blackboard. Alex just smiled with a subdued presence just a bit obvious than she had ever been before and Harper leaned back in her seat. Her best friend was back, or was she?


	4. Chapter 4

4

"Justin!!! Justin!!! Justin!!!" Harper was hysterically happy after first period. "She's back! She's back! She's back!!!" She found Justin coming out of Professor's Danvers' World History class. Justin reacted stunned and looked up again. Alex was back all right. She was strolling straight toward him in that big white and violet ensemble, her schoolbooks pulled up to her on her right arm, her purse on her left shoulder and a confused look to her face. She shook her head lightly toward Harper trying to ignore her behavior and strided up alongside her brother. Even Justin's face lit up to see her, he wanted to grab and hug her, but then caught himself and held back.

"She's been on something this morning." Alex's voice was less chipper, not as high as he recalled, much more responsible. "Did you put a spell on her or something?"

"Spell? Or something?" Justin looked to his sister, back to Harper and back to Alex. "Alex…" Justin held her by her arms. "You vanished last night!"

"I did?" She looked confused and glanced from Harper to her brother. "If I did, why don't I recall this?"

"Because…" Justin sighed and took a deep breath. "You were a horrible person and had to be reprogrammed to keep from revealing magic to the world."

"Justin, I wouldn't do that!" She pushed him off. "You know how careful I am! I would never…"

"Really?" Justin strutted past her. "Do you recall bringing a mannequin to life?"

"Never happened."

"Turning me into a superhero?" Harper recalled one.

"Course not!"

"Turning me into a baby?" Justin mentioned the last one.

"You've got to be kidding." Alex scoffed and shifted her weight to her right leg.

"Turning me into super-waitress?" Harper circled her.

"Are you kidding?"

"Letting zombies loose? Creating clones of yourself? Using the Smarty-Pants? Freaking out New York City?" Justin tried to convince her. "Do you recall any of this?"

"I recall you putting a chocolate elf in my purse." Alex recalled one. Harper looked back at Justin.

"Heh…" Justin chuckled. "We're talking about you here. Not me…" He took a pose of authority near his locker. "Alex, you were sent away to be reprogrammed. Do you remember Mr. Flick, the guy with the purple coat? Being threatened with the permanent removal of your powers? Do you recall anything about last night?"

"I recall accidentally turning you to a baby…" Alex began searching her memories and pulled her books insecurely like a shield to her chest. "But that was an accident like I said. Dad turned you back."

"And after that?"

"We had dinner, watched some TV and went to bed." Alex recalled last night as she remembered it. Justin and Harper made slow looks to each other and back to Alex.

"She doesn't remember." Harper realized.

"I guess there's some sort of block to her old memories so she can't revert back." Justin openly guessed.

"Justin, nothing happened!" Alex was adamant as she reached to Harper. "Harper, we're going to be late for gym class. Come on…" Harper took Alex by the hand and they headed off to gym turning their conversation to other things as shopping and what was for lunch that day. Justin just made a noise and felt relieved. It was as if a great pressure was taking off him. His sister was born anew. She was rational, responsible and lucid. She had become the sister he had always wanted. Someone he could be proud of to be his sister.

"It worked!!!" He raised his two fists triumphantly and screamed it to the school. "Yes!!!" He punched the air hysterically happy and grinning. No more constantly covering for her. No more jokes about him being a nerd. No more of her stealing from his room! She suddenly cared about school and being a decent person. The old selfish and mean Alex was gone!!! He finally had a reason to live again. He had his life back. He could start dating again. His life could only start getting better. Meanwhile, the rest of school was starting to hear more tales of the new Alex. She was seen in the library checking out a book. Thirty-four students crowded at the doors and snapped pictures on their cell phones as Alex checked out a book by author Richard Matheson, and they snapped more photos as she was actually seen reading it! In Algebra class, Miss Grey graded and re-graded and then re-graded Alex's test. She had passed it!!! In Spanish Class, Mrs. Montoya strolled by Alex and noticed her doing her class work instead of sleeping… and sent her to the office to get her temperature taken! In the teacher's lounge, everyone was asking the same thing. Where was Alex Russo and where did that look-alike come from? When Mr. Laritate checked the sign-in for detention, Alex Russo was not on the list for the first time he remembered. He then dashed around to all her teachers. It was true. Alex had shaped up. She did not get a single detention that day. Upon hearing that, he fainted out of disbelief and passed out on top of tiny Mrs. Crutcher, one of the office workers.

Justin had been hearing about it all day as well. Girls scared of his sister started coming out of hiding to claim Alex was suddenly nice to them. Others asked him if Alex had a twin sister they were just now meeting. Others suddenly liked the new Alex. She was sweet enough to hold a door for Mrs. Odom without letting it go and smacking her in the back. She was nice enough to help Chloe Kent pick up her books. She comforted chubby Macey Booher sitting alone by herself in the lunchroom, and she didn't once loiter near the boy's locker room for any of the bad boys like Dean Moriarty or Carter Nash to come out to her. This was the new Alex; someone a little more similar to himself. Too bad it was so late in the year, she could have joined some school clubs or been a part of some extracurricular like the Science Club or Chess Club. It was Justin who helped out teachers like Professor Danvers or Miss Tisdale, the shapely blonde school drama teacher all the boys lusted for. She was the school crush of almost the entire male school population and didn't know it. As the drama teacher, she ran the school talent show with Justin doing some of the grunt work and Harper sometimes assisting Justin. In the school auditorium, she was auditioning acts for the show from out of the talents in the student body.

"Thank you, Miss Montez... Mr. Bolton…" Miss Tisdale applauded the two last students to have auditioned today. "Okay… is there anyone else?" She turned to Justin.

"None, Miss Tisdale." He checked his list.

"Okay," The young hot blonde teacher with the tight sweater wrote a few notes. "I just have enough time to get to my groceries and get home." She was not much of a multi-tasker. "Justin, you and Harper can lock up for me and drop the keys off at the…"

"Excuse me, can I audition?" A voice called out.

Miss Tisdale looked up. Where did that voice come from? She looked round a second and turned back to the stage as Alex came out from stage left. She was clad in a black sweater and blue jeans, her hair pulled back and secured as a ponytail.

"Alex??" Harper mused out loud. Justin made a face.

"You? Miss Russo…" Miss Tisdale reacted out of disbelief.

"Please…" Alex hurried to second stage with a portable CD player. "I mean, I kind of threw this together last second." She approached the mike. Justin had a face as if he was curious what was going to happen. Harper was trying to suppress a big smile.

"Okay, Miss Russo…" Miss Tisdale sighed and tried to be fair. She sat once more and gestured to Alex. Sitting down once more, Harper and Justin looked at each other a moment and back to Alex. The former diva fretted nervously, set her DVD player on the table behind her and hit the PLAY button. She posed a bit, pulled loose her ponytail and pulled the microphone close forcibly as if it were a royal staff. The music started playing.

"_I see you on the street and you walk on by_." Her voice merged with the music, her left hand gesturing with her performance. "_You make me want to hang my head down and cry_." She was lifting and dropping herself up and down on her left leg to the beat of the music. "_If you gave me half a chance you'd see… My desire burning inside of me…._"

Justin and Harper dropped their mouths open in stunned shock. She was… good!!!

"_But you choose to look the other way_." Alex was reacting with the sultry mood of the music; a look came over her as if she were a predator perusing her future prey. "_I've had to work much harder than this… For something I want, don't try to resist me…_" Her voice started rising with the beat. She was being overwhelmed by the song.

"_Open your heart to me, baby_!!" She had the football players in the back of the auditorium cheering and going nuts. They were jumping up and applauding and whistling at her singing. "_I hold the lock and you hold the key… Open your heart to me, darling. I'll give you love if you, you turn the key_…" She was moving seductively, unable to control herself, her eyes looking around the room with animal ferocity. Miss Tisdale dropped her pen out of shock. Justin was sliding under his seat to hide.

"_Open your heart with the key_…" Alex continued with her hands stroking her abdomen and going deeper. "_One is such a lonely number_…."

"Stop it!!! Stop it!!!!" Harper couldn't take it another minute and started screaming. "Alex! What are you doing?!!!"

"Miss Russo!!!" The hot blonde drama teacher stood up. "What makes you think I'm going to let you do that song in a school talent show?! I'd have every single parent and member of the school board chasing me out of town!"

"I can pick another song."

"Please do!!!" Miss Tisdale grabbed up her things and paused out of disbelief. "Oh my god!!!" She hurried on her way with the football players cheering, calling and whistling at Justin's little sister. Shining with a big grin and quite happy with herself, Alex picked up her DVD player and hurried over to the stairs down to the seating area and over to her brother and best friend. She was excited and happy. That performance felt good. It felt right.

"Justin… Harper…" She came hurrying up the center row. "How was I?"

"What do you think??" Justin gestured to the seventeen testosterone-fueled football players in the back rows. They were still cheering, hollering, whistling and chanting over and over.

"Alex! Alex! Alex!!!!"

"I've got to get you out of here!" Harper took Alex's music player and tossed her jacket over Alex's head to hide her. Wondering what the big deal was, the last thing the former brunette diva saw was Justin trying to quell the storm of masculine excitement she had started. As he tried to leave, three of the guys were leaving their phone numbers with Justin to give to his sister…


	5. Chapter 5

5

"This is incredible…" Back at the Waverly Place Sub Shop, Jerry got off the phone and returned to the counter area where his wife attended another customer buying a sandwich. "That's the thirty-second phone call from a boy for Alex. She's got to be back."

"My baby…" Theresa chopped tomatoes for the sandwich area. "I want to see my baby. I want to see my baby." She stood from cleaning a table after a customer and prayed to heaven.

"Hi mom…" Max rolled home an hour after school ended.

"I want to see my little girl." Theresa corrected herself. "I want to see my little girl." Her son walked past her with a look up at her then over to his father manning the checkout area at the counter. He strolled over to his dad pulling off his backpack.

"Max," Jerry wiped the counter over a bit and placed his hand on Max's shoulder. "Uh, did you by any chance see your sister in school today?"

"Which one?" Max came round to pile up one of his monster sandwiches from the sandwich area. "The old selfish Alex or the new behaved Alex."

"What?" Theresa reacted interested and Jerry swarmed on the boy. "She… she's back?" Theresa was stunned. "You mean… she's changed."

"Changed?" Max piled on another layer of ham and turkey on his monster sub. "Replaced is more like it. She aced a test, made all her classes, didn't use magic all day and didn't get detention. Mrs. Delvecchio asked me if Alex had a look-a-like cousin replacing her."

"And what did you tell her?"

"I told her my Cousin Penny looked nothing like Alex and didn't speak a word of English." He slapped a top to his sandwich. It was six inches high of meatballs, lunchmeat, cheeses, whole pickles and entire green peppers stacked and crushed together. "Mom, no disrespect, but Aunt Maggie's kid is as dumb as a brick." He turned to head up to the loft.

"Max, did Alex remember what…" Jerry started speaking and then heard voices coming in. He looked beyond the three customers in the shop and noticed his daughter leading the way ahead of Justin and Harper following behind. She was home and back to them! His heart swelling up, Jerry rushed to hug her and Theresa couldn't stop from squealing excitedly, crossing herself out of her Catholic heritage and rushing to squeeze her as well. Barely getting her backpack off, Alex froze a bit confused where she was and reacted perplexed by her parents' exaggerated gratitude to having her home.

"Why is everyone so excited to see me?" She looked to her mother grinning and squeezing her face and her father kissing her cheek. "I haven't exactly been to camp; I've been to school."

"Dad…" Justin dropped his pack and tugged him away. "She remembers nothing. She has no idea what happened last night. I think those memories were erased."

"Erased?" Jerry looked at his daughter up and down. She looked the same. Beautiful, brunette, brown-eyed and dressed in a form fitting black sweater and blue jeans, she looked at him with respect. That certain sparkle to eye was gone. That aura of a mischievous little diva she was had been re-written. Alex looked at her father earnestly and respectfully as if… she was another person.

"Alex," Theresa came round to her. "You don't recall anything of last night?"

"I remember getting punished for turning…" Alex noticed the customers who heard her. "I remember get punished…" She restarted as she placed her book bag behind the counter and got ready to work by pulling on an apron and tying her hair back. "But I don't recall anything else but dinner and going to bed." She turned happy and jovial to act as a waitress for a customer to refill his drink. "Hey, would you like more soda?" She was already helping in the shop without having to be asked.

"Justin…" Harper poked her would-be boyfriend. "Tell them about the talent show."

"Yeah," Justin was getting ready to start his shift in the shop. "Dad, Alex auditioned for the talent show…" He spoke in subdued tones to his father and mother. "She sang a song."

"Alex sings." They pointed out.

"Not like this…" Harper iterated. "Like Madonna…"

Jerry and Theresa both dropped their mouths open in stunned silence. That would seem to suggest that their new responsible and behaved daughter had obtained the soul of someone from the Eighties when Madonna was at the height of her career. Just much had Alex changed? She was working without having to be coerced. She was now behaved, pleasant and concerned about her future and careful with her powers, but what else would be different about her? Was she still technically Alex?

"How much like Madonna?" Jerry wondered.

The phone rang. It was another boy trying to get another date with Alex. It was the thirty-third call that evening and up to forty-seven by dinnertime. The evening was progressing awkwardly along those lines. Alex did her chores, completed what was left of her homework between helping out the shop and not once making a sarcastic remark about Justin. Jerry couldn't be more proud of her, but like Teresa, he felt guilty. He felt as if it was his fault. In a way, he missed the girl who his daughter used to be. However, when she asked permission to stop working to get ready for a date, he hesitated again out of habit, looked into her big brown eyes and felt his heart melt.

"Sure, honey…" He gave in and Alex squealed like a little girl again, gave him a kiss and raced up to her room. Justin even got out of her way. At the Russo dinner table, Max and Harper were still struggling with their homework.

"I like the new Alex." Harper mentioned out loud having finished the last of her homework. "However, I do kind of miss the old Alex."

"Are you kidding?" Max was nowhere near to finishing his geography. "The old Alex would have beat up the new Alex."

"I can't believe it's been such a nice night." Jerry smiled happily toward his wife as he cleaned up after dinner. "No fighting. No spells running amuck. No inanimate objects suddenly animated. I wish Flick fixed her years ago."

"No more Alex insults. No more Alex breaking into my room. No more Alex stealing and selling my stuff. No more Alex turning me into things." Justin was still gliding on the good news. "No more vicious Alex practical jokes. No more cleaning up after Alex. No more…"

"Justin," Theresa stopped him. "We get the point."

"I've never been so happy!" He jumped up gleefully and landed on his feet. His was full of vim and vigor. A big grin across his face, a jolly zest to his skip, he pranced and danced over to Harper watching. "In fact, I'm in such a good mood… Harper, would you like to go see a movie with me?"

Harper's face became stunned with hysterical surprise. Theresa and Jerry were not expecting that. Max suddenly dropped his pencil.

"I'll be ready in two minutes!!!" She slammed her schoolbooks to the floor on purpose and charged up the stairs as if she was shot out of a cannon before Justin could change his mind, the metal staircase pounding under her giggling feet thundering up the stairs; her hair flailing behind her as she rushed to tear off her t-shirt for a nice dress.

"Oh my god, Jerry!" Theresa was clutching her chest and staggering to the sofa. "I think we're through the looking glass! Alex is behaving. Justin is dating Harper, and Max is… Max is…"

"What?" Max didn't see her point.

"Mom…" Justin came over. "It's not a date. We're just seeing a movie."

Through the ceiling they heard Harper singing hysterically happy at the top of her lungs.

"Theresa, calm down." Sipping and carrying his evening coffee, Jerry grinned and chuckled as he sat next to her. "Things are getting better. What could possibly go wrong?"

Harper stopped singing to suddenly scream. Something had scared her. Justin looked round from taking a bottle of water from the refrigerator, and Jerry stood with concern. Now things were back to normal. They heard footsteps on the top landing, and the sound of someone coming down into the loft. It was Alex ready for her date.

"Something's wrong with Harper. She looks like she saw a ghost!" She was dressed in a shoulderless bustier supporting her figure and blue jeans while carrying a leather jacket which she started pulling on over her shoulders. Upon seeing this new sexual Alex, both Jerry and Justin spewed their drinks simultaneously in different directions. Max saw his new sister showing her womanly figure and fell backward in his chair. Theresa's jaw dropped upon seeing her daughter embracing her sexuality.

"Alex!!!" Jerry was definitely seeing a new side of his daughter. "For the love of god, cover those things up!!!"

"I'm blind!!!" Over in the kitchen, Justin covered his eyes with his hands. "I'm blind!!!"

"Daddy!"

"Alex…" Theresa rushed to run interference. "Aren't you too young to be wearing something like that?"

"I'm eighteen, mom." Alex reminded her. "I'm practically an adult."

"I never gave you permission to be an adult…" Jerry stammered. "Now, cover those things up and go pull on a sweater then another sweater and another one and another one till I tell you to stop!"

"Jerry, please…" Theresa recalled being a girl herself and tried to be fair. She noticed where Alex had zipped up her jacket then zipped it up a bit more herself… all the way up to her collar! "Uh, honey… it's a little…"

"Sexy?"

"Provocative." She corrected. "Maybe, you could just… oh, just get a sweater on."

"I can't believe this." Alex adjusted her hair with a slight toss of her hair and returned upstairs just as Harper was coming down. Jerry sat down clutching his chest as if he was having a heart attack. Next to him, Max sat down clutching his chest with almost the exact same pose. Justin was scrambling around partially blinded...

"Justin…" Harper came down dressed in a nice blue dress and hiding her face. "Let's go see a Disney movie. I need to forget what I saw!"


	6. Chapter 6

6

Alex realized again why she liked Kevin Mitchell. She wasn't sure why she only dated him once, but she knew he had feelings for her. In school, he had wrote at least seven short stories about her as everything from a vampire to a costumed crime fighter to a special agent for the CIA. She even had brief memories of being trapped in one of those stories. Together with him again, they went to attend that Megan Fox movie called _Jennifer's Body_ and both agreed that without her looks, Megan never would have made it as an actress. She was just not that good as an actress. If anything, Kevin commented he would have liked to seen Alex in the role with some changes to the script, and she giggled a little at that. She leaned against in the theatre, her head delicately resting on his shoulder, the two of them eating popcorn, every once in a while looking at him and smiling… once giving him a platonic kiss to the cheek for being sweet. She never realized this before, but she actually liked nice boys!

Afterward, they walked the way over to the all-night Burger Shack and got hamburgers for the both of them, but once his money was gone, they strolled the way back toward Waverly Place. Along the way, they talked about school, holding hands and sharing stories about their lives and friends, but his parents' brownstone came up first and she turned up her head toward him at his front step. Somewhere nearby that night, there were fire engines and loud emergency sirens screaming through the neighborhood just a few blocks away from them.

"You know it's weird…" Kevin looked into her incredible brown eyes studying him. "But after our first date, there was no way I'd date you again, but tonight… I can't get you out of my head. I mean…"

"I know what you mean." Alex leaned closer and turned her head slightly, her lips pressed to Kevin's, inhaling his cologne as his hands held her by the waist. Her own hands to his chest, she felt she was falling in love and began pushing herself from him, an adorable little grin on her ruby red lips. Her brown eyes lighting up with romantic aspirations.

"I'll see you in school tomorrow." She leaned in to his ear and whispered, stepping back to let him see more of her.

"You sure you don't want me walking you all the way home." He asked her.

"I'm okay." She turned away on her heel as Kevin jostled a bit enchanted up to his parent's brownstone ready to retire for the night. He made one last look at Alex checking her watch by the streetlight. By time she got the right angle of light, she realized it was late. It was 9:58. She had two minutes to cover three blocks.

"Crap and a half!" She darted between the parked cars, across the street and started rushing home past trees at curbside and cars parked before rows of brownstone houses. She could cut through the alley over to Linden Street; that is, she could if there wasn't a huge truck blocking her way. Unable to stop fast enough, she whipped her wand out from the inside of her jacket and pointed it to the ground, the mystical propulsion firing up to the roof tops where she landed on one rooftop and started racing across the rows of houses dodging power lines, old TV antennas, laundry lines and air conditioning vents. Clutching her wand tightly, she covered one building then another… the distant sound of police sirens and fire engines directing her toward Waverly Place. She jumped alleyway after alleyway like a fleeting dark spirit haunting the night, rushing past windows, sliding down a roof to a second floor roof as neighbors noticed her dashing shadow over head. As she neared Waverly Place, she started slowing to the smell of smoke and burned creosote in the air. Where she had to cross Eighth Street to get home, she realized just why the police and fire engines were racing to the area. The old theatre on the corner was burning down. Fire was coming up from the windows, firefighters were struggling to get inside and the wood floors inside were collapsing into the basement. Watching from the roof of the apartment building across the street, Alex counted three fire engines, eight patrol cars and three ambulances amidst throngs of people held back behind barricades and traffic stopped from heading up Waverly Place, her family sandwich stop was in eye view five buildings away. Her mother was on the balcony with her father watching the fire. Ducking down, Alex realized could definitely fly herself over, but with this many people and witnesses, she'd definitely be seen using magic. All she could hear was the explosions of splintering wood from the blaze, the intense crackling of fire razing the structure and the shrill cry of fire engines pumping water into the fire. All the water on the block was being funneled into the old theatre. Even the ghosts in it were fleeing into the other structures. As wood floors collapsed, they brought down the roof and ceiling extinguishing and stoking more flames. Feeling the heat even from twenty feet off the ground, Alex started working the long way around the spectacle even as trained firefighters down below like Phoebe's father, Rich Daniels, went in wearing an oxygen tank to scout the way for the guys with the hose. He gestured them the way into the theatre area past blazing scorched counters and old posters turned to ashes. Even the rats and alley cats were racing to escape the collapsing structure. Rich began to wish he had taken their advice. In the auditorium, his foot snapped through rotten floor and trapped it there. He started pulling on it, using his hatchet to break up the floor around it to loosen it, but he did too well a job and was crashing through into the solid blackness of the basement. His leg snapped in the descent.

"Rich!!!" His buddies saw him vanish in the thick smoke and wondered if he'd simply fell down. There was no sign that he'd gone through the floor of the auditorium. Down beneath them in the solid black smoke, Rich Daniels, rolled over in pain reaching for his panic button to let the outside team know he was down. He groaned for a second, looked up to the orange and red opening above clouded by brown and dark gray smoke around where he'd crashed through and noticed something else. There was a girl coming after him from the smoke in the basement. Was she one of the ghosts of this place? Brunette and attractive, her leather jacket barely covering up her shapely figure, she lifted a wand to her lips and blew across the length of it, her breath turning to a gale of hurricane-force winds blowing away the smoke to clear the room. She couldn't be real. She then stepped backward as if she were a magician and levitated Rich up from the floor using her wand, raising him up and higher into the air up to the first floor where his buddies could grab him and pull him to safety. A brief cough from the smoke in her lungs and the young lady realized she had saved a life, rushing back into the darkness and out the cellar entrance toward Waverly Place.... and her waiting parents...

"Alex, honey..." Theresa noticed her daughter running up the stairs from the shop. Jerry checked his watch. It was 10:03. "Why do you smell like smoke?"

"Mom..." Alex coughed a bit. "The theater's burning down... everything smells like smoke!"


	7. Chapter 7

7

The fire inspector called it an electrical fire based on the old faulty wiring. What had existed in Waverly Place since 1843 had burned up in less than five hours, leaving behind a partial shell of the outside walls and the caved in remains of the structure filling the basement that was under the first floor. The fire department continued pouring water in the pit of blackened wood and demolished floors and walls. Theresa couldn't stand the smell of the debacle and forbid Max from hanging around outside on the landing and letting that smell into the place. However, amidst the local news reporting on the devastation of the nearly historic edifice, there was a minor news item trying to usurp the top spot. Jerry listened to the radio to get news of the fire, but started getting tales of this new local legend.

"Witnesses are reporting something they describe as something between a long haired Peter Pan in black clothes to a bigger version of Batgirl from the comic books." Jerry switched it off and looked to Alex over her breakfast.

"Sorry…" She sipped her juice. "I just didn't want to be late getting home."

"You could have called to say you were running late. The fire was a big hindrance to a lot of people, and I would have understood." Jerry stood over her. "And running into that fire was not a very smart thing either."

"I was taking a short cut." Alex exhaled embarrassed. "And I saved Phoebe's dad."

"Well, Alex..." Harper spoke up. "I for one am proud of you." She hugged and squeezed Alex.

"All I know is that I have to buy you new jeans." Theresa came carrying laundry from the basement. "I washed them twice and they still smell like smoke."

"Mom…" Justin finished his breakfast. "How can you tell? The entire neighborhood smells like smoke. The theater on the corner burned down!"

"I loved that place." Max was mourning. "I was going to move into it when I got older. I had my comic books in a room above the stage." He sniffed a bit depressed. "Some of Justin's too."

"What!!!" Justin shrieked.

"I didn't like you hanging round in that place, Max…" Theresa was loading the dishwasher. "That place was old, dusty, spooky, dangerous and… Oh who cares, it's gone now."

"Yeah, well, I'm curious, Alex…" Justin confronted his sister as if she was the old Alex. "Are you going to put on a cape and go fight evil like Maddie in Boston?" Her referred to a cute blonde candy girl they knew.

Alex looked away as if she were considering it.

"I don't think so." She sipped the last of her juice, checked her watch and tapped Harper. "We got to get to school."

"I love this new responsible Alex!!!" Harper was giddy as she ate her last piece of bacon and grabbed her purse. "Oh, by the way, Alex…" She collected her jacket and books. "What song are you going to be doing in the talent show?"

"I don't know..." Alex was heading to the door already. "How do you feel about Britney Spears?"

Harper looked back to Justin with a terrified look on her face. She loved the new responsible Alex, but why did she have to come with Alex the flirt? Justin made a face of disbelief and turned round to get ready for school himself.

"Dad, question…" Justin gestured his father over. "Technically, Alex almost revealed magic last night, so what do you think… did Flick wipe her slate clean or is her giving her a trial basis?"

"I honestly don't know." Jerry answered as headed down to start getting the shop ready for opening at 11AM. "I sent messages to a lot of my friends in the wizard communities, and while many of them knew of this Wizard Comptroller position, none of them actually knew anyone who had encountered him." He reached the bottom of the spiral staircase, turned off the alarm to the shop and switched the lights on. "The one thing they did tell me… he's a lot more merciful that his predecessor, Old "Blast-Them-Into-Non-Existence-And-Then-Explain-The-Rules" Dix."

"Old "Blast-Them-Into-Non-Existence-And-Then-Explain-The-Rules" Dix?" Justin sometimes felt his life was a really bad comedy on Disney Channel. "That was his name?"

"Oh, yeah," Jerry turned the light on in the kitchen. "He had a much shorter nick-name than Old "Belching-Volcano-Breath-Shoot-Them-In-The-Face-and-Laugh-Behind-Their-Backs-While-Stealing-The-Money-Out-Of-Their-Pockets" Atkinson." He answered with a straight face.

"Dad, you're making this up!"

"I wish I was, Justin…" Jerry pulled out the ingredients for the sandwich making area. "I really wish I was…"

"Alex, I was thinking..." Outside on the sidewalk, Harper lead the way from the shop to the corner where they caught the bus for school. These days, it was mostly them since Justin was riding with his friends. "The other day before Justin turned into a baby... Oh, we had such a great date last night..."

"Yeah...." Alex heard police cars down the block racing by. There was one and then another one. "Um, what about the other day?"

"We haven't had manis or pedis in a long time..." Harper referred to their recurring female ritual of getting their nails done at the mall. "Why don't we do that at the mall after school? A girl's afternoon out..."

"Uh-huh..." Alex pulled her school books tight to her chest like a shield as their bus turned at the corner where the police cars had come from. The big orange monstrousity stenciled with New York City Public Schools along the side and further disfigured with signs of graffiti from a rival school lumbered toward them, brakes squealing, diesel engine roaring and the female bus driver bringing the mechanical dinosaur to a stop to swing open the door by a lever.

"It can be so cool..." Harper shined planning their day as she boarded the vehicle two feet off the ground and lifted herself up into the bus. "We'll get our nails done, get some cappucchinos, cruise the mall... How's that sound?" She wandered down the aisle of the bus, swung into the first empty seat and turned back to Alex... who should have been in the empty space behind her...

"Alex? Alex?" Harper looked up and around. The bus started pulling away... "Mrs. Pack, Alex is not on the bus!!!"

"Big surprise..." The working housewife was used to that little brunette truant.

Three blocks away, Leon Harding Jr. had split from his partner and was racing the alleyways behind the shops on Decatur Street and trying to elude the cops. If robbing the gas station didn't violate his parole, then shooting the attendant certainly did, and once the cops found the drugs in his car, he was certainly going to go away for a long time. He vaulted a fence ahead of one officer, came down the other side and practically had it home free until he saw the other patrol car blocking his exit stragedy. That forced him to veer off path through the old garage. Racing as if he was still playing football in school, something he was dropped for by using drugs, he raced for the other door to vanish into the street... getting closer and closer... as the door vanished and turned to a brick wall. Harding smashing into it hard and dropped unconscious to the hard floor with officers swarming him.

"Yes!!!" Alex was on the second floor cheering herself and placing her wand back out of sight. Checking her watch, she had a bit of dashing to do herself. Turning and running from the room overlooking the garage bay, she dived through the window, landing on the roof next door and racing over the shoe store, the Chinese place, the hobby store and the McDonalds with the site of the trees before her school in her line of vision. It was about two blocks... maybe not that much. Her sneakers pounding the roof tops, her long hair flailing behind her, her energetic legs racing with conviction, she was nearing her destination, but running out of roofs and she did not want to be seen jumping down to street level. Down on the street next to her was another bus rolling alongside of her for the same destination. Hoping not to make this a habit, she pulled her wand out again to heighten her abilities again.

"Give me a ride but not inside..." She invoked and was lifted up and placed atop the roof of the bus by streams of psychokinetic force. Anyone seeing her might just have thought she was some sort of female daredevil, but there was not much of that happening. Closer to the school, there were several more trees blocking pedestrian views. Catching up with her own bus ahead of her, Alex rode the second bus on to her school grounds and clung to the outside nervously as it rolled to a stop. The door beneath her opened and she jumped down to mix into the students piling forward. Turning her back to reconjure her books, Alex hurried to catch up with Harper.

"Hey, Harper..." Alex recaught her breath and looked fresh-faced and carefree. "Getting our nails done after school is a great idea, let's do it!"

"Alex?" Harper was confused. "Where'd you come from?!"

"I rode on the outside of the bus..." The cute female wizard confessed. "It's really cool, you ought to try it sometime..." She led the way into the building...


	8. Chapter 8

8

Three days out of the week except on Wizard Holidays, Jerry took his kids into the secret lair in the shop to teach them in the history of the mystical arts, the practice of spells, the science of magic and the tapping of their inherent powers. At times, he taught them what they needed to know, slipping in his more favorite spells for fun, not that that made the lessons easier for them to take. During this time, Harper sometimes sat in with them and tried to develop her own Wizard powers. A sorcerer known as Professor William Danvers at the kids' school had revealed that all people had the potential for magic, just that some people, like the Russos and other magic families, were more inclined to it. As proof, he pointed out all the psychics, mediums and clairvoyants in the world. When Harper discovered one of her ancestors was accused of witchcraft in Seventeenth Century England, she decided to try and reawaken her family's magic… but she was not having much luck at it.

"Today, kids…" Jerry tapped on a dry erase board. "We're progressing into Defense Spells." He looked at his three kids setting at their desks. Harper was over at the sofa watching with fascination, Max was holding his pencil against his noise with his upper lip stretched out, Alex was sitting forehead with her head held up in her hands and Justin was levitating his pencil on its tip.

"Now, one of the first most basic defense spells is unarming of your opponent… unless of course you're up against someone who doesn't use a wand…" Jerry cleared his throat. "But first I want you to get used to basic disarming. Justin, over here…."

Justin's pencil fell down, he looked up distractedly and he hopped down and around to his father setting up three old bottles to knock down.

"Now, Justin…" Jerry guided his son on how to stand; placing him not directly with the target but at an angle so that his wand hand was in line. "Deep breath, clear your head and declare with a strong voice, _Phalanges Projectus_."

"That's not the spell I heard I heard at Hogwarts."

"I don't care what they taught you at Hogwarts."

"Why does Hogwarts have a different spell for disarming?" Max asked. "Shouldn't we be hearing about that one?"

"Because there are several dozen nearly identical disarming spells, but this is the one I learned." Jerry gasped a bit tired and annoyed. "Justin, do the spell and try to get each bottle."

"Okay… _Phalanges Projectus_!!!" He aimed his wand, took his stance and knocked off one bottle, the second one next, but not the third. Harper hopped up applauding him, Alex lit up impressed and Max hopped up to try it.

"Very good, Justin…" Jerry comforted him. "Not all novices hit one let alone two the first time."

"I tried to spin the last one." Justin was beating himself up more for not getting all of them.

"I'm going to pulverize those things!" Max duplicated Justin in the same place with the same pose as his father rest up the targets. He looked ready to act. "_Pelasgus Projectum_!!!"

Nothing happened.

"_Phalanges Projectus_." Jerry corrected him.

"_Palanges Projectus_." Max tried again with little luck.

"_Phalanges Projectus_." Jerry corrected him again.

"_Phalanges Protect Us_." Max was doing lousy.

"_Phalanges Projectus_!!" Harper corrected him this time as a bottle went down. Jerry spun around in surprise as Alex and Justin dropped their mouths open in surprise.

"I got one! I got one! I got one! I got one! I got one!" Harper jumped up excitedly and started jumping around before stopping with a happy look in her face. "I do have magic blood in me!!!!"

"No, I accidentally bumped the table." Jerry hesitantly let her down as she sat back down and restored the middle bottle. "Max, I'm getting your ears checked. Alex, you're up…."

"Okay…" Alex came round from behind her desk, briefly comforted Harper with a hug and shook her hair out of her face with a sway of her head. She took her stance, raised her wand and focused on her targets with her wand. "_Phalanges Projectus_." She invoked as she exhaled, knocking off the first bottle, then the second and then the third!!! Justin reacted with shock. Max dropped his head upset, and both Harper and Jerry began cheering on Alex. There was a lot of excited screams and hollering as Harper danced around cheering Alex who by herself was just as shocked as Justin. Her father grabbed her up and kissed her to the cheek.

"I can't believe it! I can't believe it!!!" He kissed his little girl again. "Let's go tell your mother!!!" He led Alex out of the lair by the arm with Harper excitedly tagging along. Behind them, Justin was still in shock. Unable to talk, he looked to Max, the bottles knocked down and tried to talk.

"What the heck was that??" Max asked out loud.

"How did…" Justin wandered around in disbelief. "How did… This was not supposed to happen!!!" Max went by him heading out to the downstairs kitchen.

"Wait a second, Max…" Justin set the bottles back up, took his place again to knock them down and tried the disarming spell he had learned at Hogwarts.

"_Expelliamus_!!!" He ordered and with one blast on the bottles each of them was knocked off the table with the table itself knocked off a bit from the spell.

"Nearly identical…" He scoffed at his father's claim.

"Wait a second…" Max wanted to try that spell. He hopped up, reset the bottles and backed to where his brother stood. "Expelloramus!" He directed his wand to the bottles, but nothing happened.

"Crap and a half…" He mumbled under breath.

"Max, buddy, we have a problem…" Justin came round to his brother and placed his arm around him.

"You have a problem?" Max looked at him. "I've got a problem! _Ignoramus_!!!" He tried to knock down the bottles again, becoming frustrated and conflicted when he failed. Justin just covered his eyes embarrassed and tugged his brother closer.

"Max, listen…" He spoke up. "Look… who do you think is going to win the Wizard Contest?"

"Well, dude…" Max started feeling good. "I think I've got… I think you'll win it." He suddenly turned realistic.

"That's what I thought." Justin and Max sat on the sofa. "But lately Alex is starting to get much more smarter and capable with her magic. She's getting good. Too good, and it has me worried. I mean, I wasn't that worried about old lazy Alex, but this new reformed Alex… she could be a threat." Justin nodded his head in agreement with himself. "We're somehow going to have to turn her back to the old Alex."

"What do you mean we?" Max responded.

"Think about it like this, Max…" Justin turned to him and started plotting. "If Alex wins, we both get screwed, but if I win, eventually I'd have to give my powers to someone if I should get married like Dad did for Mom. If you help me, I'll give you the wizard powers…"

"That would make me like Uncle Kelbo!!!" Max's face lit up. "And Alex would hate us just like Aunt Megan! I'd be the best uncle to you and Harper's kids!!!"

"I'm not marrying Harper!!!"

"Justin?" Their father was coming…

"Yes?" Justin and Max hopped to attention trying to be innocent.

"Oh, there you are…" Jerry looked round and saw his boys. "I heard Alex got a role in the school talent show. Do you know what she's singing?"

"Not an idea…"

"Your sister hasn't decided on a song yet, but as soon as she tells Miss Tisdale, I need you to find out what it is…" Jerry picked up his folder and notes from the lesson. "Your mother and I do not want to attend and discover Alex on stage wearing your mother's wedding dress, straddling the microphone pole and singing "Like A Virgin."

All three of the Russo men shuddered from that picture.

"I've got to somehow contact Flick and find out why Alex has gone from problem child to a teenage Material Girl." Jerry continued.

"Oh, dad!!!" Justin pulled his wallet out. "Here's that calling card he gave me should I want to be Wizard Comptroller."

"Thanks, Justin…" Jerry looked at the card. "This helps me a lot." Jerry took the gold card with emerald letters and print and turned round with it in his fingers. Meanwhile, Justin and Max shared a secret look…

"What are you two up to?" He asked.

"Nothing!" The boys chirped in unison.


	9. Chapter 9

9

On the table before the TV, Harper and Alex were doing their algebra and getting through it. Jerry was down running the shop during the lax in the day, and Theresa was getting the groceries for the family. Justin took a break from helping his dad to meet up with Max, the two of them coming up the spiral staircase and peeking over the bookcase out of view at Alex. Since Flick, she was studying a lot more, helping out in the shop and becoming an all around better person. She had not insulted or offended anyone since the change, and as a result, she was gaining her peace with the world and become a more experienced wizard. Justin hated her for it.

"_Lazy and selfish you once were, lazy and selfish you shall be_…" Justin incanted whispering with his wand extended. "_Become the Old Alex at the count of three, one, two, three_!" A ball of sparkling light came from his wand aimed for Alex, bounced off of her some how as if she were a pinball machine and hit Harper. Justin slapped his head disgustedly after realizing Flick's spell would be too strong for him. Max gasped with stunned surprise as Alex felt the spell bouncing off her and ignored it. Taking the spell herself, Harper reacted from her rewired personality and stood up from sitting on the floor.

"Alex, do me a favor, huh." She spoke as she headed to the refrigerator. "Finish my homework for me and sign my name. My brain hurts." She took out the can of Cheese Whiz from the refrigerator and filled her mouth with cheese spray. Alex turned and watched a bit confused as Harper took the bowl of popcorn from the counter and returned to the TV, dropping herself on the sofa and propping up her feet to watch TV.

"Harper…." Alex looked up to her. "That's not right. I mean… you should be doing your own work."

"Yeah, but the way I see it…" Harper groaned and stuffed popcorn in her mouth. "It's a waste of time for us to both do it… it'd be a lot easy if you just did it for me."

"Harper…" Alex stood disgusted as Justin and Max came out of hiding. "How can you be so lazy? I'm not doing your work for you! Friends would not do that!"

"Alex, check this show out…." Harper was watching Disney Channel. "These three kids live over a sandwich shop and learn magic; their best friend is like really funny!!!" She started cackling out loud.

"Oh my god…" Alex reacted stressed and noticed Justin and Max. "Justin," she raced up to her big brother. "There's something really wrong with Harper! She's not acting right!"

"She is????" Justin pretended to be mystified. "Max, what do you think is happening?"

"I don't know…" Max was even less than convincing. "Maybe you should check her out?"

"Okay…" Justin leaned over the back of the sofa. "Harper, how are you feeling?"

"How do I feel?" Harper looked at him disgusted. "How do I feel?! I feel like I'm out of popcorn. Go pop me some more… Oh, and, Justin… you got something on your shirt." She pointed at something on Justin's shirt then poked him in the nose as he looked down, a gesture that made her laughing even louder. Justin just stood back up, straightened up and wandered back over to Alex.

"I don't see anything wrong with her." Justin acted innocent.

"Wait a second…" Alex recalled when she turned Justin to a baby. She hurried round the kitchen counter, reached high up above the kitchen sink where her father kept his rare magic ingredients and took down the honey root and cinnamon anathema, which voided accidental spells. A small pinch between her forefinger and thumb and she hastened back to Harper to sprinkle it over her head. Within seconds, Harper was choking on a mouthful of potato chips and seemingly waking up from whatever spell was affecting her. She knew it!!! Alex looked to her guilty brothers.

"I ain't going down for this!!!" Max shrieked and raced down the stairs for the shop.

"Max, wait up!!!" Justin turned as well.

"Don't you take another step?!!!" Alex pulled out her wand on her brother. "Harper, could you leave the room?"

"Gladly…" The cute brunette coughed a bit from her mystical recovery and shook off the chips on her t-shirt to head to the bathroom. She looked back to Alex once, and Alex looked to her brother inching toward the door to the hall.

"Where do you think you're going?" His sister stopped him and came up after him. "Justin, do you have something to tell me?" Justin reacted by looking away ashamed and dropping his head.

"I tried to turn you back into the old Alex…" He confessed. Alex stared at him in disbelief while lowering her wand.

"Why would you do that?" She didn't believe it. "What about all those stories you told me about how bad I was to you? You said I was a horrible person." She placed her stunned and offended hand to her chest. "Why would you want that Alex back?"

"Because…" Justin reacted ashamed of himself. "I saw you as a threat to me winning the Wizard Contest." He looked away and turned round the sofa to sit down on it. "Because suddenly Dad liked you more than me. Because I've wasted my entire life studying and could become nothing while you won something out of just luck…. I didn't want to risk ending up like that…" He confessed. Alex suddenly felt sorry for her brother and exhaled deeply to finally understand him. Justin even sniffed a bit as if he was crying.

"Justin…." She came round to sit up right next to him and place her head on his shoulder. "You're my brother, and I love you… And you're right, if I won… it would be just out of luck, but to tell the truth…" She looked him in the eyes. "For some reason, I'm just not really that interested in winning the Wizard Contest anymore. I mean… if it happens, great, but if it doesn't…. I just really want to be a singer like Britney Spears. I want to act and make movies… I want to be an actress and attend Hollywood parties like Ashley Tisdale, Hillary Duff or…." She looked at the Disney series Harper had been watching. "That girl on TV riding the magic carpet…."

Alex and Justin leaned in as if it looked familiar.

"Let's face the truth, Justin…" Alex looked at him. "If I was placing bets on anyone to win the Wizard Contest, I'd place all my money on you."

"And I'd…" Justin couldn't stop from smiling. "Place my money on you." They had their moment and hugged. If there was one moment that they truly became close, this was it. Alex squeezed her brother, and he suddenly realized he loved her too.

"However," Alex added an addendum. "When you decide to give up your powers to marry Harper, I wish you'd consider me over Max!"

"Why does everyone think I'm marrying Harper?!" Justin stood annoyed and surprised.

"Oh, come on, Justin!" Alex stood before him. "Look at your lousy track record with girls… the Goth girl, the werewolf, the centaur, the vampire, the elf… The way things are going, you're likely going to get lonely and desperate in the long run and choose Harper!" Justin stood and thought that out. It had it own sort of inevitable logic.

"Oh my god, you're right." Justin had to face the truth. "I could just might end up marrying Harper!"

"Yes!!!!" Harper suddenly squealed giddily and came out hugging Justin from behind, swinging her arms around him and giggling as she hugged him. He had said it. He had said it! Her little heart finally had a reason to hope.

"I think she overheard you." Alex pulled her schoolbooks together.

"You think!!!" Justin felt Harper giggling through his back to her his lungs. She was so happy! Alex turned away to head to the kitchen for her chores down in the shop. While Harper was pretty strong, Justin finally broke her grip and wrestled himself free, looking into her admiring face so much in love with him.

"Harper…." Justin looked at her beaming upon him. "I got a question for you…"

"Yes, yes!!!" She started answering already. "A thousand times yes!!!"

"Not that!!!!" Justin broke her romantic intentions and tugged her closer to speak in private. He noticed Alex heading down into the shop. "Has Alex told you what she's singing in the school talent show?"

"Not really…." Harper responded. "You know, she's actually become really sensitive. She thinks no one liked her singing."

"Harper…" Justin looked at her. "She had every guy in school suddenly asking her out. Trust me… they liked it, but for all the wrong reasons! You've got to help me censor the new responsible Alex!!"

"Justin," Harper placed her hand on his shoulder. "Much like our love for each other, I don't think we stand much of a chance in fighting this thing…"


	10. Chapter 10

10

Clad in a black fedora, sunglasses and a full-length coat usually used by private investigators, Jerold Flick was in a marketplace in Athens, Greece amidst restored villas, old hotels, tourists and shops. A fruit merchant sold his fruits. German tourists snapped photos, and a burro lay down out of the sun on the sidewalk. Flick sat at a sidewalk café having dinner and watching a rather lovely young sorceress with blonde hair shopping in one of the numerous street side stalls. Dressed in an emerald green dress with a black belt, white tights and white designer jacket, she and two friends were looking over the leather crafts consisting of belts, purses and other things. His target was Samantha Danvers, a rather powerful young sorceress who though born in 1950 had stopped aging and getting older at the age of eighteen. Staying forever a teenager, she had been on his predecessor's list and his list for a long time, but she consistently kept escaping with her powers intact for over twenty years. To permanently strip her of her powers, he was going to have to surprise her.

"Mr. Flick, can we talk?" Jerry arrived by a two-hour spell he had Justin cast.

"What?" Flick was distracted and caught unprepared. "Jerry, what are you… don't distract my view!!!" He checked to see if Samantha was still in the marketplace. She was laughing and enjoying time with her magic friends.

"This is really important." Jerry sat at Flick's café table and poured some of his wine for himself. "It's about Alex…"

"Jerry, please!!!" Flick was rather disconcerted and pressured. "This young witch has eluded me for over twenty…." He looked again as Samantha saw him and vanished with her friends in a flash of light. He had lost her!!!

"Confound it!!!" He stood screaming. "I lost her again!!! Confound it all!!!" He paced back and forth cursing. "Samantha Danvers, 573 strikes… she's the only one actually worse than your daughter!!!"

"Sam… Samantha Danvers????" Jerry recalled that Ashley Tisdale look-alike. "Professor Danvers's daughter!!! That little witch nearly drowned my daughter!!! She was here, and I missed her!!!!" He turned screaming his head off and swearing along with Flick who suddenly calmed, sat and started pouring himself some Greek ouzo.

"Well, she can't keep running forever…." Setting his hat aside and loosening his over coat, he sipped his wine and tasted some of his Greek pasta. "So, Jerry, a problem with Alex? She should be home by now; they're never gone for meditating longer than twenty four hours…"

"Oh, she's home, but…." Jerry sipped his glass of ouzo as a bus and a few vehicles went by. "She's… she's developed a bit of a reputation. She's become a bit more…. Virtuous."

"Virtuous?" Flick dabbed his bread in his pasta sauce and ate it. "Is that the word they're using these days?" He took his napkin and dabbed his lips of sauce. "Jerry, your daughter has not really changed. She's the same girl, but she has rediscovered herself. In forced-meditation, a person transcends the body as the Tibetan mystics have been doing for ages for personal re-discovery. In Alex's case, she has learned the true error of her ways and has become the more-rounded person she was meant to be."

"Yes, but…"

"No "but" about it, Jerry…" Flick sampled more of his lunch and rolled his last piece of bread in the sauce before eating it. "You see, in this case, whatever traits Alex had that she was suppressing before, she is no longer suppressing. If one personality flaw is erased, another one has to replace it. If you wanted a truly model daughter, you should have entered into a monastery in Nepal when she was five-years-old in order that she become completely pure of heart."

"So, what you're telling me is…." Jerry was surprised by a Greek girl presenting him with a plate of Greek pasta and bread for lunch. He thanked her and turned back to Flick. "That Alex was always a bit of a flirt, but without her lazy and selfish desires, her flirting has increased…"

"Pretty much…."

"I wish I had studied my psychology better in high school than borrowing my homework from Anthony DeLuise." Jerry tried the pasta. "Oh my god, this is good!!!"

"Isn't it?!!!" Flick shared more of his ouzo. "This is the only place I ever eat when I'm in Athens. However, if you want really good pasta, your should try out the Tattorio Ferrero del Carrio in Rome!"

"The Tattario?" Jerry dipped his roll in the sauce. "My dad used to take me there as a kid!" When he finished eating, he had to recall that Teresa wanted him to get a few souvenirs for her before Justin's spell wore off and he was mystically transported back to Waverly Place. In school, Justin left fourth period chemistry and started to meet his friends for ten-minute break. He had two more classes before he started helping Miss Tisdale again with the talent show. There was seventeen acts ranging from singers, bands, three comedians and one female magic act where Sara Troy was warned against finishing her act by inflating her bra. Miss Tisdale did not want that kind of controversy in the school production. She was scared enough as it was that Alex was going to "Vogue" or "Express Herself."

"Alex…" Justin found his sister and Harper in the courtyard watching for boys. "Miss Tisdale needs to approve your song. What's it going to be?" He raised his clipboard and pulled out his pen.

"Well," Alex looked up from talking to Harper. "I was thinking maybe Britney Spears… I can't make up my mind over "Baby One More Time," "Toxic," or "I'm A Slave For You."

"No, no, no, no, no…." Justin resisted her choices to save her from herself. "You can't do anything that would get you tossed out of school! She specifically said no Madonna, Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera."

"Oh…." Alex pulled a small pad and pen from her purse, crossed out a number of songs, flipped another page to cross out some more songs and then groaned under breath as she crossed out two more songs on the next page.

"You might also want to cross out…" Harper added. "Janet Jackson, Shakira and Gwen Stefani…"

Alex flipped the page, flipped the next page, the next one and then the next one to cross out some more songs. She looked up to her brother with a sigh.

"Oh, and no Jennifer Lopez or Beyonce." Justin added. "If American Idol has taught us anything, no one can sing their songs right."

Alex flipped up another page, another page, another page and then scribbled them out on the list.

"Okay…" Alex sounded annoyed. "How about you tell me who I should sing?"

"Hannah Montana." Justin suggested.

"Ashley Tisdale." Harper added.

"Vanessa Hudgins…"

"Taylor Swift…"

"Carrie Underwood."

"Oh, oh…" Harper had another one. "How about… you know… that girl who's always in the tabloids for fighting with Hannah Montana…"

"Michayla????" Alex looked away disgusted. "Oh god…" She considered it, thought it over and decided to try it. "_If Cupid had a heart, he would take me by the_…. I can't do this! Her mere voice makes me want to vomit!!!"


	11. Chapter 11

11

"Hey, Justin…" Luke Venkmann was the tallest kid in the twelfth grade at Tribeca Prep. He was on the school football team as the entire back line. Atop his head was a shock of bright blonde hair. To look at him, Justin had to crane his head up higher and higher and higher to see Luke's green eyes peering down to him over that barrel chest. "I think your sister's cute."

"So do three-hundred and seventy-five other guys." Justin answered.

"Can you put in a good name in for me?" Luke asked. "I'd like her to come to my brother's bar mitzvah as my date."

"Well," Justin pulled out a journal of names. "I'll put you on the list… you are number three-hundred and seventy-six…" He penciled in Luke. "Most of these guys don't even go to this school!"

"Thanks…" Luke started to turn away then turned back. "Oh, another thing…"

"I don't have any pictures of her in a bikini!" That was the second most requested question of him.

"Wanna buy some?" Luke opened a photo of Alex's head photo-shopped on to Pamela Anderson's body.

"Oh god!!!!" Justin pushed himself away while pounding his skull. "Get out of my head! Get out of my head! Get out of my head!!!" He looked up as Alex came from gym class to head for her locker. She and Harper were talking. Harper backed to the lockers as Justin approached.

"Alex…" Justin was losing it. "You've got to help me. I've got almost six hundred guys here wanting you to date them!" He waved the book. "They think you've got some kind of… reputation."

"How the heck did they get that idea?" Alex slammed her locker shut.

"Oh, I don't know…" Harper reacted while thrusting her own body a bit. "Maybe singing almost exactly like Madonna!!!" She stopped dancing and shot Alex a look as she took Justin's journal of names and requests. "Justin, most of these guys don't even go here!"

"I know!!!"

"Luke Venkmann…" Alex saw the last name. "Well… he's kind of cute in a… shaved Nazi Sasquatch kind of way, but, Justin, I'm only really interested in Kevin right now. I'm not really interested in dating several guys anymore."

"Well, you better let these guys off the hook or…" Justin paused trying to think. "Or else… get Kevin a helmet, bulletproof jacket and shin guards…"

"I'll handle it." Alex looked across the entry hall to Miss Tisdale coming down from the second floor and heading to the office. "Harper, meet me in class…"

"Check…" Harper signed off as Alex patted Justin to calm him down, pulled her schoolbooks to her chest and rushed to meet the hot blonde teacher. She swerved round to miss students Shelia Castellari and Lisa Winters and confronted the bosomy teacher near the teacher's mailboxes near the door to the teacher's lounge.

"Miss Tisdale…" Alex had chosen her song. "How about "Under the Sea" from _The Little Mermaid_?" Alex had her attention. "Big paper mache rock, red hair, seashell top and a mermaid tail as I sit in the spotlight and…"

"I don't think so, Miss Russo."

"Okay, I got other choices here..." Alex whipped out her pad. "Metal Princess Leia slave costume, paper mache Jabba the Hutt behind as I sing…"

"No, Miss Russo…"

"I can work with this." Alex seemed to have a one-track mind. " I watched _Moulin Rouge_ last night and Nicole Kidman sang this song…"

"Miss Russo…" Miss Tisdale seemed to know where this was going. "Do you have anything where you wear more clothes instead of less?!" She looked intently at the girl. "I mean - How about singing "Over The Rainbow" from _The Wizard of Oz_?"

"I've got bad memories of _The Wizard of Oz_." Alex commented. "I once got trapped in it."

"I'm not even going to pretend I understand that comment." The blonde teacher sighed a bit with her mail. "I'm sorry, Miss Russo, but you're losing valuable rehearsal time here, and if you don't have a song by the end of the day, I'll have to take you out of the program. I'm sorry."

"What?" Alex's heart was breaking as her eyes filled with tears. Miss Tisdale moved around her and headed to her classroom as the warning bell sounded for class. Her heart breaking, her frustration growing, her head trembled a bit as she whipped out her wand and wanted to smite Miss Tisdale for being difficult, but then.... that was what the Old Alex might have done. Her hand shaking, her bottom lip quivering and her eyes full of tears… she was about to lose it. She opened her fingers and allowed her wand to slip from her fingers to hit the floor…

"Alex…." Kevin was coming out of the boys' bathroom and came running to her, picking up her wand and handing it to her. "Alex, you dropped your drum stick…" He thought it was a stick to pound on drums. "What's wrong?"

"I want to be in the talent show so much…" She held on to him and bawled over his shoulder. "I keep showing Miss Tisdale all these songs, but she won't let me sing…" Her heart was spilling forward with emotion. "I can sing… I can really sing… Why does she hate me?" Her eyes were red with tears as she clung to him, her voice wavering and whimpering… she wheezed and sobbed with a broken heavy heart she had never felt before…

"I'm sorry…" Kevin held her close as the hall emptied of kids running past them. "I know what you mean. It's so heart-breaking to have a talent no one appreciates…" He thought of his writing, paused and thought about what he could do to help her. "You know… I have a song I think she'll let you do, but it would mean sharing the stage… and you'd need a place to rehearse…"

"What…" Alex pulled back looking at him sniffling as a tear rolling down her cheek. "What song?"

Several hours later, back on Waverly Place, Theresa Russo used a lull in business hours to do her family's laundry. She collected the laundry from the hamper in her bathroom and then from her kids' bathroom. From far away, she heard music from somewhere in the neighborhood. It was loud enough she could realize it, but she couldn't figure out the words. As she headed down to the loft and the door to their private garage next door in the alley, it got louder and more obvious. Where was this music coming from? She moved to the door leading down to the laundry room in their garage and opened it to a blast of music nearly knocking her off her feet.

"Alex, are you down there?" She called ahead. The music shut off. There were sounds of several people running around as Theresa started coming down, she turned the corner and looked down to the bottom.

"Hi, mom…" Alex tried to sound innocent with Kevin standing next to her. "Can I help you?"

"Alex…" Theresa was very suspicious as she came closer. "What are you doing down here by yourself with a boy?"

Alex and Kevin looked at each other guilty.

"Nothing… nothing at all…"

"You're down here by yourself with a boy, and…" She turned to the washing machine and noticed several other high school kids coming around Jerry's old car and rushing secretly back up the stairs. "What? What?!!! What's going on here? Hey, you!" She started screaming as Kevin kissed Alex and ran for it himself. Teresa was screaming. "What the!!! Jerry!!!!"

"Theresa?" Jerry heard the screaming and saw the boys pouring out of his basement stairs and escaping through the loft. "Who? What? He… I… Ooo… Alex!!!!" He never thought he'd be accusing Alex of anything ever again, but he tried hard to grab one of the teen male miscreants, but the agile youth vaulted over the sofa and out the door, another one rushing out to the patio and jumping down to the street. Two more rushed down out of the shop; the whole time, Jerry was trying to head them off. He recognized Kevin trying to escape.

"Hey, Mr. Russo!!!"

"What did you do to my daughter???!" Jerry jumped to catch him and missed. Kevin got away as Jerry jumped to his feet looking for more kids. What the heck was going on around here? Who were these kids? What were they doing in his basement? "Theresa!!!!" He jumped up screaming.

"Ow… ow…. ow…" Alex was being pulled up the stairs by her ear in her mother's hand. Her mother was furious! She had never been so shocked! She dragged her daughter to her father to explain herself.

"Alex…" Theresa let her go. "Explain yourself!!!"

"Yes…" Jerry was steaming mad. He was so outraged, his face had turned red. "Who were those boys?!!!"

"Some of them were girls…" Alex confessed.

"Oh my god…" Theresa grabbed her heart and crossed herself with her cross. "Now she's swinging both ways!!!!"

"We were rehearsing for the talent show!!!" Alex finally explained herself. "We needed a big place to meet after school." She looked at her parents. Jerry looked at Theresa, and Theresa looked to Jerry.

"You finally got a song?" Jerry asked.


	12. Chapter 12

12

For seven days, Alex didn't have to work in the shop. Every day, she, Kevin and eighteen other kids entered the basement garage with loud music blaring, the windows rattling and the fixtures vibrating from the noise and dancing steps. In order to promote the show and make money, Jerry had a "Guess That Song" contest in the shop for whatever customer could identify the tune pounding through the floor and walls. The prize was for a week's worth of free sandwiches, and for the first day, they had almost a hundred guesses, five hundred by Wednesday and clear over a thousand by the end of the week when he closed the contest. Justin kept track of the guesses on his computer, but the problem was… no one had any idea just what Alex was singing. Guesses ranged from N' Sync, The Backstreet Boys and The Beatles to The Monkees, Abba, Smashmouth and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. One customer thought it was "In Gadda Da Vida" by Iron Butterfly. Another customer guessed "Objects in The Rear View Mirror Might Be Closer Than They Are" by Meatloaf. Justin thought it was "Rock And Roll All Night Long" by KISS then tried to sneak in to find out, but Kevin's cronies caught him and chased him from the scene. Whatever it was, Alex had insecurely hidden her rehearsing for the talent show.

On Friday night, Jerry was wearing a shirt and tie and was at the school at six for the show, family camcorder in hand, with Theresa in her nicest dress and both Justin, Harper and Max with them. To Harper, this was a date, but Justin sat Max between them to disillusion her. Alex's nemesis, Gigi Daniels, was there to escort them nicely but rudely to their fifth floor seats, but the hardest part of the night was bearing through all the acts… eighteen music acts ranging from pop to rock to jazz and rap music along with two comedy acts. Seventeen-year-old Jason Loomis compared the school to the state penitentiary and made fat jokes at the expense of Mr. Laritate, the principal, but cute Spenser Tucker in her white dress mocked and made fun of her parents and her family tree. A few more music acts, Wanda Shapiro had a magic act, and a few Goth kids droned on through a song no one could identify. Through it all, proud and disillusioned parents taped their kid's acts…

"Sounds like American Idol early auditions…" Max commented and Justin cracked up laughing.

"Good thing Alex is at the end…" Justin whispered back. "Her voice will clear the school out…"

"Guys…" Theresa glared at them with a look. The audience clapped for the second to last act as Miss Tisdale announced the last act for the night.

"Ladies and gentlemen…" Miss Tisdale addressed the packed auditorium. "For our last act, I want to introduce a young lady who has come so far so fast in the last month. To tell the truth, we the teachers have been scared to death that we'd have her in our classes again next year, but now… we are so proud to having had the chance to know her. Ladies and gentlemen, Alex Russo, Kevin Mitchell and friends…"

"And friends?" Jerry and Theresa looked to Justin.

"I honestly have no idea what she's doing." Justin answered as Jerry raised his camera to tape his daughter singing. The curtain parted to Alex alone on stage with slow music playing. Her dark hair combed out a bit long, she stood alone in a nice red dress in a solitary spotlight surrounded by darkness with Kevin coming out to her while wearing the schools white work-out outfit.

"_Living in my own world_…" Kevin began with a song from a Disney movie. Alex turned to face him as if she were a Disney princess. "_Didn't understand… that anything can happen when you take a chance_…."

"_I never believed_…" Alex lifted the microphone to her lips. "_What I couldn't see. I never opened my heart_…" Kevin added to the tune a bit. "_To all the possibilities_…." She looked to Kevin in love with him, a faint tear rolling down her face.

"_I know that something has changed_…"

"_Never felt this way_…"

"_And right here tonight_…"

"_This could be the start of something new_…" The voices joined in the one spotlight. Their classmates in the auditorium were getting excited. "_It feels so right to be here with you, and now looking in your eyes…. I feel in my heart… the start of something new_." The music changed to another tune from _High School Musical_ and the lights on stage went on to reveal all the other kids from the Russo family garage. The costumes were identical, the faces nearly the same… the whole school cheered excited with this final act turning into a major spectacle.

"_Together, together… together everyone_…" The pulse was pounding. Classmates backstage were singing along. Teenagers in the audience started clapping, rising and pounding their fists and cheering near their parents.

"_Together, together, come on, let's have some fun_…" Alex and Kevin parted as their friends took the stage.

"_Together, we're there for each other every time_…" The kids had the dance moves down as they moved in beat and together in harmony.

"_Together, together, come on, let's do this right_…" The entire was clapping along except Jerry taping Alex on stage.

"_Here and now, it's time for celebration_…" Kevin had the Troy role down with Alex as his Gabriella. "_I finally figured it out… that our dreams have no limitations. That's what it's all about_!"

"_Everyone is special in their own way_…" Alex belted out her lyrics as well as the actress before her. "_We make each other strong… We're not the same… we're different in a good way… Together is where we belong_!!!"

"_Together, together… together everyone_…" The auditorium was reverberating with several voices everywhere singing the songs of the most successful Disney movie ever made. Theresa was dancing before her seat. Justin was actually proud of Alex and felt proud to be her brother, but Max didn't understand why everyone was jumping around as if they had ants in their pants. Off to the side, two more Tribeca Prep students who had started the show earlier on looked oddly familiar…

"I don't know why…" Zack Bolton of the school basketball team spoke up. "But every time I hear this song, it creeps me out."

"You too?" His girlfriend, Vanessa Montez, responded.

"_We're all here_…" Gigi's younger brother, Adam, came down the center in a white outfit and white hat. "_And speaking out with one voice. We're going to rock the house. The party's on now, everybody make some noise. Come on and shout_…" His friends lifted him up as a cute blonde came out.

"_We've arrived because we stuck together… champions one and all_…" It was Samantha Danvers! Shocked to see her, Jerry looked over to her father, Professor William Danvers, but he directed Jerry to look over to the side and notice Jerold Flick in a dark suit and red vest with the other parents gesturing to Jerry. He had finally caught that wild child as well and corrected her through the same process as Alex.

"_We're all in this together_…" Samantha joined the front row with Kevin and Alex and other students who looked like the roles of the blockbuster movie. "_Once we know that we are we're all stars, and we see that we're all in this together_…" They all showed a lot of hard work in duplicating the moves from the movie. The audience, the whole school, the entire building was applauding the whole act.

"_And it shows… when we stand… hand in hand…. Makes our dreams come true_…" Alex was standing with them in the show, singing… dancing… living her dream… her dark locks bouncing on her shoulders as Kevin and her vision came together as one. She could see her father grinning ear to ear at her. He was never so proud of her now as he had ever been. His baby girl was singing her heart out… she was going to be all right, and he had proof. He was going to watch this tape over and over and over and over… He was going to post this on the family Internet site and share it with all his friends. His chest bursting with pride, he was going to share this someday with his grandkids…

"Wow, mommy, you were really pretty…" A child's voice echoed.

"I'd like to think I still am…" It was several years later, and Alex was a beautiful woman at twenty-nine with two preschoolers and a husband who was the creator of two successful TV shows. Professor Danvers had successfully won the "Guess That Song" contest for the act that had vaulted her into her career as a singer and actress. She now lived about two hours from the center of Hollywood in a nice split-level Dutch Colonial with a swimming pool and downstairs exercise studio. Her last two movies were successes, even if her one TV series was not, but her last album was in the top ten list for two weeks and the top forty for just over a month. Her best friends included Hannah Montana, Demi Lovato, Kellie Picker and Taylor Swift. She had acted alongside Nicolas Cage, Hugh Jackman, Jack Nicholson and Robert DeNiro. She adjusted her long hair in her foyer mirror, checked her watch and looked up to Kevin adjusting his cufflinks.

"Mom…" Alex adjusted her wrap and looked to her mother visiting from the East Coast. "I'm not sure how long this thing is going to last. Can you keep things held down to after midnight?"

"Honey…" Theresa was still very attractive even in her sixties. Only the vague traces of graceful white hair illuminated her dark hair and the vague wrinkles of time lit up her face. "If I can take care of you and your brothers, I can handle two little pixies…"

Alex's daughter, Sophie, and son, Nick, lifted their giggling cherubic faces.

"I can't believe your brother can't be here to cheer you on…" Coming from the kitchen with a plate of snacks, Jerry was heavier now with a head of snowy white hair and laughing wrinkles around his eyes with a trimmed mustache and beard tinted with white hair. "I know he's busy now, but he can't take the time off to spend it with you?"

"Dad!" Alex posed as Kevin helped her with her wrap over her shoulders. "Justin's the freaking Vice President of the United States! He doesn't have time for this stuff!" Outside the house, a limo pulled into the circular driveway to take Alex and Kevin to the People's Choice Awards. "But if Max shows up, please stop him from teaching the kids wizard spells. Kevin doesn't like it…" Her husband sighed tiredly. "And besides, Justin and I did not give up our powers to him to teach our kids to be juvenile delinquents!!!"

"I promise…" Jerry held his hand up to God as Theresa made a face. "I will not let Max teach the kids any Wizard spells."

"Fine…" Alex turned on her heel like a movie star out to the limo with Kevin holding the door for her.

"Why did I marry into a family of wizards…" Kevin mumbled as he followed Alex to accept her People's Choice Award. He closed the door and followed his beautiful wife the vocalist and actress. In the house, Jerry was hiding a grin and turned to Teresa holding his granddaughter.

"Jerry…" Theresa was scolding him. "You lied! You're the one who's been teaching the grand-kids those tricks!"

"It's a grandfather's right to spoil his grandkids rotten as revenge for what I went through with their mother." Jerry announced with a laugh. "Now, you give them the candy and sweets you brought from home and I'll…" He looked to the munchkins. "Hey, who wants to learn to fly through the house?!!!"

The little Justin and Alex clones squealed giddily through the house and raced to hug their grandpa laughing out loud for teaching little Sophie and Nick how to drive their mother crazy.

END


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